In late 2007, a hearing colleague once asked me a question in our conversations. He asked, "Can you lipread?" First, out of courtesy, I replied to his question and then asked him, "Can you handread ASL?" He was taken aback with a sheepish giggle.
His curiosity is understandable but I am intrigued by the underlying weave of meanings attached to the question -- the question of colonialism, the sociolinguistic majority versus the minority, phonocentrism, logocentrism, the Center and the Other or Margin which lead to the structure of social hierarchy.
His question implies a hierarchical hearing domination that expects me to fit into their phonocentric world; perhaps better ask a complementary question instead, "What communication method do you prefer?" to find a common ground.
For some years from 2005, I had experimented with deconstructing hierarchical dichotomy to create complementarity. I have been using my own language (ASL) in response to whenever an English-speaking person talks to me. They may not understand what I say but they can sometimes handread a word or a few onomatopoeic words -- especially the onomatopoeic word "writing" in ASL. Once they realize they could not speak my language, they often go and get their paper and pen, PDA, or their own laptop to talk with me in written English. It has been amazingly working for me.
A favorite surprising result was ordering a drink on my frequent flights. In the early days, I'd put my paper and pen inside the seat pocket. Every time a flight attendant approached me for a drink, I'd show her a paper, "apple juice, no ice." In the next phase, I used my PDA (pre-smartphone). Then next, no, not smartphone. Instead, during my MFA research on deconstruction and phonocentrism in the smartphone phase, I decided to speak ASL "apple juice, no ice."
In my first ever experiment, I was nervous and anxious. When a flight attendant approached me for a drink on my flight, I replied in ASL, "apple juice". She smiled and nodded and then I quickly added NO ICE in ASL. She nodded, poured apple juice in a cup without ice, and handed me. Accomplished! I was so thrilled. Paper-free! Pen-free! Even smartphone-free! It was so incredible! She apparently made an effort of the combination of handreading and guesswork.
But, maybe it was just a luck. I did this again. Accopmlished again! Then, on my next flights and next many flights, all accomplished in North America. Handreading truly worked.
One day in a group of Deaf people on flights, I told the stories about handreading to my Deaf seatmate. Then a flight attendant approached us. To my disappointment she didn't try. In custom, she gestured and used paper/pen. My turn, I ordered my usual in ASL and got my order right. I turned to my seatmate and smiled, "See?".
Another day in the waiting lounge at the airport, a young guy sat next to me and vocally spoke to me. I spoke ASL to him. At first he was confused and lost, but then he caught the last ASL word that he could handread "writing." He realized I was deaf and politely went back to his business. Watching him out of the corner of my eye, he pulled out his laptop and opened it. At first, I thought he didn't bother to chat with me. Then, something really, really familiar popped up on his laptop. A notepad. My gosh, he actually made an effort and typed something to me. We chatted on the notepad on his laptop.
In parallel to the experiments above, I also stopped "pointing to ear and headshaking" years earlier. Instead, I'd reply in ASL, such as "Sorry, I speak ASL, but we can write back and forth in English." At this point, a hearing person can handread "writing" or "write".
Another thing I observed over the years -- the old way (pointing to ear) before and the new way (speaking in ASL) after was that hearing people respond very different to these two actions.
All the years prior to the change, I observed the common patterns that hearing people typically say "sorry" and leave every time a deaf person gestured "pointing to ear none", even if they asked for what time was, which was so simple. Occasionally, a hearing person successfully would gesture "time?".
On the other hand, in my observations, since the days I spoke ASL in a natural way (never pointing to ear again), hearing people tend to respond more positively. They began to make an effort of getting their own paper and pen, smartphone, or any writing/typing instruments.
Occasionally, there is also an ignorant, clueless hearing person who thinks vocally speaking was the only way of communication.
Overall, the public (hearing) society in North America has changed with better education, awareness, and understanding. Still, more change needs to be made on both sides. When I change my way of thinking, behavior, and language usage, it also changes hearing people how they act and think.
During the years of experiments, I also did a hilarious experiment, doing an original candid video as one of my BFA projects called Speak in ASL.
How easy is lipreading? How hard?
Lip Dancing: a deconstruction on "beautiful signing like dancing".
New to sign language? "Where do I start?" or "How do I start learning sign language?" This ASL Rookie guide lists some selected links to the tutorials for ASL beginners to get started and keep rolling. It may be a useful review for intermediate-level learners and ASL students as well.
Some tutorial pages are a mix of free and premium versions. Access to premium content and links below are available in the PatronPlus subscription. More links/posts will be added from time to time.
Are you able to carry everyday conversations in ASL? Are you a student in the intermediate levels and beyond, who wishes to boost up your signing skills? You've come to the selected tutorial series. (Some premium content are available to PatronPlus membership.)
Stories, poems, performance arts, etc. in sign language.
This documentation project follows a child's language acquisition, literacy development, and phonological acquisition in sign language, specifically ASL, from newborn to age five in a natural native-ASL environment and visual culture.